By: Jim Rosenberg Just days after Papiers Stadacona announced it had invested $18.5 million (Canadian) to significantly boost its deinking capacity and the recycled-fiber content of its newsprint, parent Enron Corp. announced Tuesday that it will seek a buyer for the papermaker.
Stadacona President Andr? Sarasin said in late July that Houston-based Enron had decided to put his non-debtor company on the block. Stadacona owns a 500,000-ton-per-year Quebec City newsprint and directory paper mill, as well as woodland near the mill and in Maine. Late Monday, an Enron spokesman told E&P Online that the original report that the mill was for sale was "a gross oversimplification of the situation." He said, however, that he could not immediately clarify other than to point to an auction process of some sort that would be explained in coming weeks as part of Enron's reorganization discussions.
Stadacona is among a dozen business that Enron said it is offering to sell to "a broad universe of potential bidders" with which it has confidentiality agreements and which were invited to "electronic data rooms containing information" on the businesses.
"Enron and its advisors, in consultation with the Unsecured Creditors' Committee and its advisors, will evaluate all offers received to determine the combination of bids that maximizes the value of all assets," Enron interim CEO Stephen Cooper said in a statement.
The Blackstone Group L.P. of New York is Enron's lead adviser. Decisions on bids and bankruptcy court filings on asset dispositions are expected in December. Enron said it may not sell an asset if it believes bids to not reflect its value.
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